View report page

It is very probable, however, that this list does not contain
all the deaths from phthisis which occur in Finsbury. Many are
doubtless concealed on the death certificates, and wrongly entered
as due to pneumonia, bronchitis, chronic bronchitis, pleurisy,
asthma or influenza.
Allotted to districts: 75 deaths from phthisis belonged to
Clerkenwell, 26 to St. Luke's, and 0 to St. Sepulchre. Of the whole
of the 1,010 deaths in Finsbury in 1927, 10.0 per cent. were
due to phthisis, as against 8.8 for 1926, 10.52 for 1925, 8.7 for
1924, and 8.9 per cent, for 1923. Sixty-nine per cent, of the
total deaths due to phthisis took place between 25 and 65 years.
Other forms of Tuberculosis. —The number of new cases
notified was 36, derived from Clerkenwell 27, St. Luke's 9, and St.
Sepulchre 0 cases. The parts chiefly affected were the peritoneum
(2), spine (4), glands (13), meninges (6), ankles (2), arm (2), hip (2)
cases.
Fourteen patients were bedridden at the time of notification. In
these, notification was a very late incident in the disease. 8 cases
were infants under school age. 7 were examples of " open tuberculosis "
associated with external discharges, and therefore presumably
infectious to those brought into contact with the sufferers.
16 were school children. Of the whole number, 21 were considered
to be Finsbury cases by residence and infection, 9 Finsbury cases
by infection, 4 were not Finsbury cases, and 2 were doubtful. Two
of the tenements were overcrowded. The close contacts in the same
families included 89 adults and children over school age, and 72
other children. The kitchen was used for sleeping purposes in 20
instances. In 2 cases the mother and children respectively were
the chief or only wage earners. The deaths included 12 from
tuberculos meningitis (Clerkenwell 7, St. Luke's 4, St. Sepulchre 1)
and 6 (Clerkenwell 3, St. Luke's 3, St. Sepulchre 0) from forms
of tuberculosis other than tuberculous meningitis and phthisis.
Altogether 47 primary notifications were received, but 11 of these
were duplicates.
The Finsbury death rate from all forms of tuberculosis in 1927
was 1.34 per 1,000 ; the corresponding rate for England and Wales
in 1927 was .972, and for London in 1927, was 1.05.
Tuberculosis Dispensary.—A Tuberculosis Dispensary for
Finsbury residents was established at the Royal Chest Hospital,